A high-stakes game of chicken is playing out in Korea between the government and doctors, as weeks of bickering over new medical legislation unfolds into the largest health care strike in 20 years.

After three rounds of talks ended without a deal, the government said Wednesday morning it would report the striking doctors to a state regulatory body, on top of possibly taking away their licenses to practice medicine.

From Wednesday to Friday, local clinics will close in protest of a series of bills that seek to reform the way the country recruits and utilizes its health care workforce.

Other contested changes sought by the bills include leaving out anticancer drugs from national health insurance coverage in favor of traditional herbal remedies, and opening a new state-run medical school to replace a public medical school that had to shut down two years ago for failing to meet academic standards.

As novel coronavirus cases are rising again, representatives of junior doctors -- who were first among doctors of all grades to walk out last Friday -- said in a meeting with the Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Sunday evening that their strike action will not affect COVID-19 duties.

But the young doctors said the strike was still on, until the government agrees to scrap the bills and negotiate from square one.

“The government decisions affecting future generations of doctors as well as those already in practice came without prior notice or due process of opinion gathering,” they said.

As the medical community remains defiant, a “stern action” has been warned by the President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday, who ordered responses “based on principles of law” from authorities to “bring the doctors back to the table.”

“There can be no compromise when lives and safety of people are at stake,” he said.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said last week that doctors who are striking may face getting their licenses suspended or worse yet, revoked. Criminal charges could be pursued if medical services are disrupted and patients suffer from the neglect, it said.

“By deciding to proceed with the strikes, doctors are placing lives of thousands of Koreans under threat. This cannot be condoned,” the ministry officials said.

The government warnings are not likely to be empty threats, according to medical lawyer Jeong Hyeon-seok. 

“If the doctors end up getting a jail term, their licenses are subject to revocation as per laws on medical practice,” he said. He added, however, that this would only be established if their strikes result in patient harm.

The doctors said essential staff will not withdraw from labor to keep critical and urgent care, as well as nonelective appointments and operations, uninterrupted. No major disruptions in medical care were reported in the last two strikes held Aug. 7 and 14.

But the souring relationship with the government amid the health emergency is not helping many doctors who say they are already tired. 

Once hailed as heroes, the doctors who have been on the COVID-19 front lines said they feel like they are being “vilified.”

“Morale is at an all-time low,” said a surgeon at a hospital in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, who has been volunteering at COVID-19 centers. He said he regrets the timing of the government's decision. “Why now, is a question that the doctors are asking.”

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)